Jade's mother tells of love for county man

Jade Goody's mother has spoken for the first time about how she has found love with a former soldier from Shropshire.

Jason Cooper, 36, from Horsehay, Telford, is the new man in the life of 51-year-old grandmother Jackiey Budden, after the pair met and fell in love on the Spanish island of Tenerife just a few weeks ago.

At the time, Jackiey, still mourning Jade's death following her battle with cancer, had fled the UK to "sort out her head".

During a visit to his home town, Jason and Jackiey look like any ordinary couple.

Around Telford shopping centre, however, they are followed by a number of celebrity spotters and Jason confesses that he's finding it odd having to adapt to being followed everywhere.

"I said to him, 'Welcome to your new world'," says Jackiey.

"I don't want to be photographed but it's part of the deal," adds Jason.

Later the pair pick up Jason's two boys from school and visit a play barn at the Bridge Builder pub on the Wrekin Retail Park in Arleston where Jackiey meets her man's kids for the first time.

Fooling

It's a happy affair, with all four of them mucking about and dodging one another on the grass. In the play pen there's more fooling around as Jason jumps into the ball pool with his lads.

The level of Jackiey's fame is clear from the nudges that go round the pub.

Speaking openly about their relationship for the first time to the Shropshire Star, Jason, who had been working at his mum's bar in Los Cristianos, confesses: "I did not know who Jackiey was before we were introduced.

"The first thing I did was make her a ham sandwich. After that we got talking."

Eager to conceal their relationship from the media, Jackiey explains: "I adopted him as my 'Tenerife brother'.

"He became my closest friend. I had never been with a man for 25 years. I did not go looking for a man, I went to Tenerife to get my head together."

But love bloomed, despite Jackiey confessing she was a former lesbian.

The pair spent weeks as friends as Jason showed her round the island and looked after her at a time when, due to the stress of her daughter's very public death, her weight had plummeted to eight stone.

The downside of the story for Jason has been all the back-biting stories in the wake of his divorce three years ago from the mother of his children, Louise.

Branding

A procession of people, including his former father-in-law and ex-military colleagues, have had their say in the newspapers, branding him a love rat and accusing him of being a rotten father who did not pay maintenance to his children - something Jason totally refutes.

"There were money issues in the marriage which every marriage has," he says.

"People say you are only doing it (the relationship) for the money but it's totally wrong, we are happy as we are.

"I was absolutely shell-shocked at the stories. When we were a family we were a very close family. Louise will tell you that I've always been a good father."

Jason says that he and his ex-wife now enjoy an amicable relationship but that he has been concerned at how his two boys, Josh, 8, and Harry, 6, might be affected by media stories and tittle tattle.

"I'm led to believe they are not hurt, but they have had trouble at school over the stories and it makes me feel gutted," he says.

Jackiey, meanwhile, hopes the boys will get along well with her grandchildren - Jade's kids - Freddie and Bobby, when they meet soon. "They will be involved in my life," she says. "My grandchildren will be involved with Harry and Josh, definitely. They are about the same age."

Gaze

Over the pub table at the Bridge Builder, Jackiey and Jason gaze longingly at one another and the spark between them is visible.

"Jason makes me feel secure," says Jackiey. "I feel comfortable and he respects me. He's my ginger soldier.

"He says he's strawberry blond, but he's ginger and I love him with a passion."

Looking at Jason, she adds: "I'm very domineering and I need you to be that extra bit domineering than me. He doesn't let me get away with what I used to."

She admits to still struggling to come to terms with Jade's death and that during their visit to the UK she and Jason have been staying at Jade's home in Essex, something Jason describes as "an honour".

"I have good days and I have bad days," explains Jackiey. "We go to church and light a candle for her, but I am happy - he's got me for life."

And the future? Wedding bells?

"I'm not getting married unless he gets me a black pearl engagement ring, which is hard to find," says Jackiey with a smile.

"It's my new mission," says Jason, who affectionately calls his new belle his "high maintenance bird". Jackiey goes on to explain that she's delighted how Jade's kids have taken to Jason.

"To see how the boys got on with Jason the other day is amazing. Bobby is very shy but when we went out together he just went straight with Jason and that makes me feel good."

Delighted

She reckons that if she could see the happy couple now, Jade would be delighted.

"She would be over the moon," she says. "She never wanted me to be alone, man or woman, as long as I was not alone."

Jason adds: "I've never been as happy. It's serious - we are so happy."

By Ben Bentley